Civil society watchdog Youth and Society (YAS) has demanded that the Malawi Prison Service release the names and details of 21 inmates recently pardoned by President Lazarus Chakwera during the 2025 Easter clemency exercise, warning that the continued secrecy risks eroding public trust in the justice system.
In a strongly worded letter dated April 20, addressed to the Commissioner General of Prisons, YAS argues that the decision to withhold names of pardoned prisoners “creates the perception that the Malawi Prison Service may be shielding politically connected or undeserving individuals from legitimate public scrutiny.”
The letter, signed by YAS executive director Charles Kajoloweka, has also been copied to the Minister of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Office of the Ombudsman.
It invokes the Access to Information Act and the Constitution of Malawi as legal grounds for demanding disclosure.
“Presidential pardons are not conducted in secrecy. They are public decisions made in the name of the people and for the public good,” reads the letter in part. “Secrecy breeds suspicion. Transparency restores public trust.”
Kajoloweka said YAS is giving the Malawi Prison Service 15 working days to release the names, offences, original sentences, and time served by the pardoned individuals.
The organisation has threatened legal action should the information not be made available within the stipulated time frame.
The development follows last week’s refusal by Prisons spokesperson Steve Meke to disclose names of those released, citing security and privacy concerns.
Meke only stated that the inmates had met the guidelines for presidential pardon and called on Malawians to offer them a second chance.
But YAS and other rights organisations have questioned the veil of secrecy around the pardons.
“In previous years, governments have published the names of those granted clemency. This break from transparency gives the impression that there is something to hide,” Kajoloweka told this reporter in a phone interview.
He added that the secrecy not only undermines transparency but also opens the process to abuse, particularly in a country where presidential pardons have in the past been marred by allegations of favouritism.
The Easter presidential clemency saw 21 prisoners pardoned, while a general amnesty was extended to other inmates by reducing their sentences by six months—excluding those convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape, and offences against persons with albinism.
Rights groups including the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) and the Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) have welcomed the act of mercy but echoed calls for a more transparent and criteria-based process.
Malawi’s prisons remain severely overcrowded, with an estimated 17,000 inmates held in facilities built to accommodate just 8,000.
The 2009 Constitutional Court ruling in the landmark case of Gable Masangano v. the State ordered government to halve prison overcrowding and improve inmate conditions, declaring the status quo inhumane.
